Animal or Human
by dharak
Summary: a street orphan finds herself in the worst of situations-captive, in a lab, with a madman and a strange canister. a few months in captivity leads to a desperate escape, and the victim escapes into the underground sanctuary of the sewers. But what was she now, human, or animal? She doesn't know-and isn't certain she can find out.


**I own nothing but my oc. TMNT is property of its owners.**

It was dark in the place she found herself. Vallara felt her heart rate pick up, until it was nearly bursting from her flesh. Cold metal pressed against her back, hard on her emaciated frame. A full sixteen years of living on the streets had conditioned her well to surviving, and it had also taught her captivity was bad. Really, really bad. It meant harm, it meant people with vendettas, seeking to take advantage of those they caught.

She wriggled experimentally and bit back a groan at the signals she received. Cold metal encircled her wrists. Something similar bound her ankles.

"Now, calm down." The voice was sneering, not at all trying to comfort the terrified teenager. "This won't hurt a bit..."

The only source of light in a while floated into Vallara's sight, dimly lightning the maniacal features of a man in a old, torn up lab coat, marked with what looked suspiciously like old blood and claw marks. The light came from a thin syringe, an ominous blue green liquid inside.

Instinctively Vallara tensed. If her mouth hadn't been gagged, she would have rattled off several obscenities a average teen wouldn't even know. As it was, she was helpless to get away from anything-least of all, that stuff, which looked and felt unnatural, wrong.

And the worst part was she couldn't stop the madman-for that's what she felt he was-from injecting her with it.

Crushing fear became paralyzing fear when the cold needle slipped into her arm.

The result was even worse. A lightning bolt of pain shot from the point of the needle. She jerked, screaming into the rough gag as countless more pains tore through her. Dimly she felt bones rearranging themselves, new ones growing, her nails becoming harder and stretching from their beds. The pain was horrendous, worse than anything she'd felt before, from hunger pains to the worst of street fights. It was her physical form fighting to rearrange itself, and being merciless about it.

The cuffs seemed to become slightly tighter. Vallara jerked another time, a last, raw scream tearing it's way out of her throat as everything finally, at last, stopped changing, leaving a dull ache behind. She almost felt like laughing hysterically. Nothing felt right now, and after seemingly hours of pure agony, this dull ache was taunting. It seemed like nothing at all, compared to that earlier pain.

She'd been restructured. Instinctively she knew. It felt violating, made even worse with her current inability to see.

"Excellent, excellent." the purr of the scientist changed to a cutting demand. "Now put it in a cell. Such a specimen is close to what we want-can't have it escaping."

It? the tone of the address was derogatory and chilling. An animalistic growl slipped up her throat, too deep to be human. Vallara could barely think through her spinning head.

What had they done to her...

black crawled at the edges of her vision. Dimly she heard the madman speak. "We need a bit more...bulk. We can use the DNA..."

xcxxccxxxcxxxccxxccx

She became conscious again slowly, lying on a hard, rough surface. If she had to guess, concrete. She felt cold. More than she had before.

Groaning, Vallara opened her eyes to blackness. The events from before her blackout sparked through her, awaking her harshly. Fists clenching, she sat up abruptly.

Then hissed when several sharp things pricked her palms. She looked down, not really expecting to see anything.

Vallara received a shock when she found she could see. Well. Well enough to note her fingers had become slightly shorter, thicker, and that her nails had become short claws. The unwelcome surprise became worse when she started at her reflection in a grimy metal door not far ahead, one that looked suspiciously like a cell door.

A wide eyed reptilian creature stared back at her, one if a feminine slope to its face. A spiny mane, sharp fangs, and a tail where the distinguishing things that shocked her the most. Feeling like her heart had stopped, Vallara scooted backward with a yell. When the being copied her, Vallara froze again.

The creature froze. A overwhelming surge of fear and disgust swelled in her chest, and before Vallara knew it, the feelings had erupted out from her in scream. She pounded the door with both fists, a short sob escaping her when the reality caught up. The reflection had been her.

Shaking her head in denial, Vallara backed away from the door again, falling into a sitting position in the process. Her whole center of balance was gone.

"Like the knew look, test subject three?"

The hated face of the scientist appeared through the slitted bars. Vallara grit her teeth at the sight of him. She wanted to tear that face apart-watch the blood flow, see the pulse die.

Hunching her shoulders, Vallara grit her teeth. Those were thougths beyond savage even for a street orhan. _Stop. Don't friggin go there. _

"The mutation was nearly perfect. I will enjoy extracting your DNA to create a perfect result."

"What the hell's that mean?" Vallara's hatred surged. "Bastard."

"Silence!"

Her fist rammed into the bars. The scientist jerked backward, fury on his face. "For that, monster, I'll extract your mutant DNA in the most painful way possible!"

Vallara let her fist drop. The word monster echoed in her head over and over, even though she knew it shouldn't matter what the filthy human before her thought. Unknowingly she growled deeply at the scientist, clapping a hand on her mouth when she realized that she'd done it by instinct. Another stab of despair pierced her when she processed that she had just used the word 'human,' without even considering using it for herself.

The scientist smirked. "Like an animal." Then his face vanished from the bars. Footsteps ran down a metal hallway. Hunching her shoulders, she slid down into a heap. Letting the hatred and sadness overwhelm her, Vallara did something she hadn't done for a long time.

Cried.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The wounds stung. The drying blood flaked under her fingers, staining the remaining rags of her pants and shirt. She'd felt the urge to lick it clean, given that she had no other way, but given she was trying to hold onto what little humanity she had left...

The reminder left a bitter taste in Vallara's mouth. She was starting to feel that she was becoming steadily mad over the unknowable span of time she'd been down here, since they'd first warped her for their own ends.

She growled. One hand raked the floor with her sharp nails. This was ending, tonight. She was getting out.

"If I have to live as a monster, it won't be as your DNA monkey," she hissed, the hated face of her tormentor glowing in her mind's eye. "I'm going to kill you..."

the thought didn't even bother her anymore.

She spent the next few minutes calculating. She barked out a deranged laugh as the ideas fell into place. Who knew if it would work. But anything was better than here. Vallara hated being trapped, and it had only been emphasized now-the cell walls only seemed to get closer each day. Her breath hitched at the mental imagery as it bled into her actual sight. She had to get out, even if it killed her.

For the first time in a while, her self hate and injured self value was diminished. Vallara waited in the dark under the rough cell cot, the room etched sharp silver in her night vision. It was one of the many things which was either a curse or a blessing. But at the moment, everything to the young teen seemed like a curse. Her lost humanity, the living conditions, her now twisted body.

A more reasonable part of her head told her that the mutation could have been far worse. But louder voices drowned that out, given strength by her own doubts and confusion. _What am I now? Where am I supposed to go after this? _

As the hours waned until the appointed time, only one word became predominant. Feeling seemed to go away, even thinking did, until only the word _escape_ was her world.

_Escape. Escape._

Footsteps. The time was fast approaching. Vallara hadn't even noticed how fast it had gone-there was no time down here. No sun, no clocks that she'd had the pleasure of seeing. Just the dark.

The door squealed open on rusty hinges. One of the scientist's lackeys entered. He paused, looking about, a flashlight beam dancing. They thought she was afraid enough they could abort precautions, despite her first spitting resistance. Vallara had been acting the part of the perfect prisoner, not sure why she'd sacrificed so much of her dignity. Now she knew. It was to escape.

The man never knew what hit him. Vallara dashed out from her hiding place with blinding speed. She clawed the lackey's flashlight arm, causing the torch to spin away. Then she jumped, brutally grabbing the head of her enemy and slamming it into the doorframe.

He slumped into a limp pile. Vallara took a small comfort that she may have given him a bad concussion and drawn blood, if not worse. Pausing in the hallway, Vallara's desperate gaze panned across the bare walls, looking for an escape route.

No air vents in sight. Her pounding heart all she could hear, Vallara ran, stumbling on occasion. She hadn't moved this fast since the mutation-the tail especially seemed to trip her when she thought about it.

She ended up in a mostly barren room at the end of the hall. By now shouting was everywhere. She had to get out. Vallara picked out a stack of crates, with what looked like a blowtorch and several strips of metal scarcely a foot away.

Preparing to jump, Vallara prepared to hack at the concrete with whatever natural weapons she had. Her jump was interrupted when a weight struck her over the back. With a yowl she was sent flying into the wall by the crates. She struck the outermost one with her foot, knocking it to the ground. A glowing green canister rolled out.

Vallara jerked back like something had stung her. Every painful memory associated with the stuff surfaced. Before the teen knew it, she was fighting to fend of a panic attack. Drunkenly she used the wall to gain an uncertain footing, still shuddering involuntarily.

The scientist let out a sarcastic hum of sympathy. "Ah, of course. That would trigger things..." he raised the long pole he'd hit her with. The silvery, five foot rod glowed, the tip opening like the petals of some deadly flower. Electricity sparked from it. "Stun rod. Very useful."

Vallara felt survival instinct overwhelm her. She reached for the blowtorch. The scientist pulled the trigger.

It hit where she had been. Powered by fear and adrenaline, Vallara was already at the top of the crate stack. She tore the grate away from the crumbling base, then dived in.

The next shot from the stun rod nearly hit her. Vallara scrambled up higher. Twisting, she turned the blowtorch on the highest setting.

Before the fire could do more than graze her, Vallara tossed it down the shaft, bargaining that it would ignite the blue green liquid. Then she began to hurry up the duct again, gaining speed when she discovered her claws could hitch into the duct's smooth surface.

Below her, just when the outside became visible though a grated, inactive fan, a boom sounded from behind her. The fiery orange glow and screaming of the scientist-of the cruel, sadistic human being-was lost in the general roar of flames. Vallara lunged for the exit.

The rusted old fan only loosened from the initial impact. The result of the mutagen explosion slammed her into it a second time, this time hard enough to knock the damaged building addition off.

Vallara felt a moment of weightlessness. There was a painful moment when the rusted fan gave her several scrapes, and a stinging blow that felt like it had gone deeper. A rough landing later, she was blinking in the dim light o a city alleyway, her back and shoulder stinging from the open cuts.

The blaring of a horn caused her to flinch. The prospect of facing people seemed alien and outright impossible. Every flash of a headlight or traffic light seemed to scramble her senses even more. Besides, who'd want to help a freak like her?

Vallara moved her foot, torn between running or staying a moment longer. Smoke was drifting from the dilapidated building. It wouldn't take long for authorities to come.

A grated thing scraped the underside of her foot, hooked claws scraping. Vallara darted off of the spot, pried the grate up, and willingly plunged into the revealed hole, carelessly dropping the grate back into place behind her.

She made a rough landing just below it. Still driven by the shadows in her mind, ears ringing, Vallara ran some more, hoping desperately that maybe, maybe, she could outrun this nightmare, and everything she'd gone through in that lab had been a bad dream.

It was obvious when Vallara blearily woke up that she'd fallen asleep somewhere along the way, during her blind flight. She was lying sprawled on what looked like a set of old subway tracks. Terrified at the prospect of getting crushed, she jumped off onto the narrow concrete verge, breathing hard. She hissed when she trod on her tail.

Tail. Vallara rubbed her hands together, feeling the dry, lizard skin on the backs of them. Groaning, she buried her head in her arms, feeling sick all over again. The whole thing hadn't been a dream, apparently. It had been frighteningly real.

She spent some time there, taking deep breaths, conceiving her next move. All the self loathing in the world couldn't make her commit suicide, even though at this point she bitterly considered herself a monster. Best thing to do would be to find some basic shelter underground-then figure out a good way to get food and water. To work her way out of the nightmare, in time.

Forcing herself to her feet, Vallara began to trudge down the abandoned rails. Soon enough, she came across what appeared to be a large, empty space.

It wasn't the most descriptive thing to call it. But Vallara had always seen the streets, not the subway. All she knew was that this place seemed to have extra sections and was supported solidly by squat pillars, looked abandoned, and seemed open for grabs. Said pillars seemed to have lights, but Vallara was no electrician. Besides, she could see well enough in the dim light already there.

She shrugged it off. She would figure that out later. For the time being, she found her way to one of the offshoot rooms. Curling up in a corner, she closed her eyes to a peaceful silence, not heavy and burdening-and let herself be comforted by this new, protective darkness.

She was alone down here. Vallara had the time she needed now, to sort out her own emotions, to heal her form.

It was good.

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**AUTHOR NOTES-this is the first time I have introduced a tmnt oc-it's one that has been in my head for a while. This is set before the series began-at least, before the Nick one did. It probably wasn't clear from the description, but the place my character found is the lair from the show, before it was cleaned ans inhabited. **

**I may consider extending this to a two shot, as I already have some ideas for a second part, but that all depends on how well this is received. If I go for another part, I'll be daring to write about already established characters. Despite having wrote fanfiction for a while, pretty much all of it has been OC focused, with no appearances by the characters of show/book/animes ect, because i've always been nervous about that aspect. **

**But as I said, if I receive any requests for a second part, i'll work on it. It'll be good practice anyway, since some of my more long running story series will eventually involve non oc characters, and it's tempting but frightening to continue. **

**~dharak out. **


End file.
